


This One

by littlemisstpk



Series: Rhythm on the Court [5]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), M/M, POV Alternating, POV Third Person, Post-Canon, Reconciliation, Songfic, Time Skips, Unreliable Narrator
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-20
Updated: 2018-05-20
Packaged: 2019-05-09 05:24:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,947
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14709933
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/littlemisstpk/pseuds/littlemisstpk
Summary: In many ways, the difference that ten years can make to a personality can be drastic, but Hinata finds out how little has changed between him and Kageyama since they left high school.





	This One

**Author's Note:**

> The mood-setting song is "This One" by Paul McCartney. Fun fact: I often have backup songs in case the characters go in a direction I don't expect, but the lyrics were perfect from the get-go.
> 
> I often try to get the official video whenever possible, but it gave me nightmares back in university when I first discovered the song. [Here](https://youtu.be/gsqJXd8sXTA) is the link for nightmares, [here](https://youtu.be/H4dJllo8Tqs) is a lyrics version that is nightmare free.

Kageyama woke up in his hospital room with a heavy weight on his chest, and a tingly feeling in his arms. It took him a moment for him to figure out that the weight on his chest was in fact Hinata, and the tingling in his arms was a combination of Hinata’s weight causing his left arm to fall asleep, and Hinata drawing volleyball attacks softly on his right arm. As Kageyama shifted his left hand in an attempt to regain feeling, he felt Hinata look up, a faint redness on his face from his recent crying episode and wearing a serene smile.

The moment was interrupted by the sound of Hinata’s stomach grumbling loudly. As he checked his phone for the time, Hinata's eyes widened, and he pushed himself quickly off the hospital bed. He muttered something about having to be a responsible adult, but before Hinata could exit Kageyama's reach, he felt Kageyama’s place his hands over the one still clutching the phone.

“Can I leave my number with you?” Kageyama’s face was earnest, natural, and free from his typical awkwardness.

A smile graced Hinata’s face as he relaxed into the touch. A couple flicks on the touch screen led him to his contacts page, and Kageyama quickly had the phone in hand to enter his contact information. Collecting his things, Hinata paused at the door, a slight smile on his face, before he left the room.

Hinata did his best to quietly leave the room, but as he did, he found himself nearly running into Tsukishima, and two boys looking exactly like him trailing in his wake. While Hinata had learned to capitalize on his questionable luck of meeting important people in inopportune places (the bathroom in the Sendai Municipal Gymnasium being a hilarious example of this phenomenon), Tsukishima remained one of the few people that Hinata would rather not face. Even though Tsukishima’s face seemed to not contain the anger it held the last time they saw each other through a volleyball net, Hinata was still reluctant to see whether or not the grudge was well and truly gone.

Poking the button to the elevator, Hinata went to make his escape. To take his mind off his encounter in the hallway, he thought about ways to increase his reporting renown while still focusing on volleyball. He circulated ideas of the popular gifs of him and Kageyama in post game interviews that seemed to be pervasive in the fandom corners of social media, where their interactions seemed to strike a chord.

Hinata was nearly at the hospital's exit when he heard his name being shouted across the lobby, snapping him out of his reverie. He immediately felt scared, unsure of the other man's intentions, but as Hinata was fundamentally an optimist, he kept a straight face to hide his anxiety as Tsukishima approached him. A few moments of silence passed between the two men, and Hinata offered no information while Tsukishima struggled to catch his breath.

When it no longer looked like it hurt to breathe, Tsukishima asked, “May I have a moment of your time?”

Hinata nodded his head in assent, following Tsukishima as he was led through hallways that were obviously familiar to the other man. Tsukishima’s detached politeness was something that Hinata was unfamiliar with, as Tsukishima had been an antagonistic shit disturber towards him from the day they met, with no exception. Hinata supposed that this was the side of his personality that Tsukishima’s teachers all saw, which would explain why he never seemed to be in detention for his horrific behavior.

Hinata entered the cafeteria, and was led to a specific set of tables in the back corner that seemed to oversee a well maintained garden. There were park benches around groomed areas near a fountain outside, and if the weather was warmer, Hinata was sure they'd be sitting in the sun rather than in a depressing building. Before Hinata could take a seat across from Tsukishima, he was gently directed towards the seat directly next to him, so that they were both looking out at the view through the window.

It seemed that this was something that Tsukishima did often, looking lost in his thoughts. Hinata looked over at the taller man, patiently waiting for him to start with why they were holed up in a hospital cafeteria. He had a fleeting memory of the time that he broke Noya on camera by staring at him with the same serious expression he was giving Tsukishima. Unlike his boisterous friend, Tsukishima was not laughing, but focussing. It took him a moment, but Tsukishima finally turned towards Hinata to explain.

“Kageyama told me just enough for me to realize that I had misread the situation at graduation, but not enough for me to truly understand how bad things went.” There was a nearly imperceptible pause in Tsukishima’s speech, and before Hinata could wonder at what alien being replaced the unapologetic Tsukishima with this poor imposter, he continued, “I just need to know how deeply to apologize for my part.”

As part of his profession, Hinata had learned to school his features into a carefully calculated reaction, a far cry from his overly expressive responses from high school. As he was not expecting an apology from Tsukishima, he found himself slipping into his old ways, and expressed his surprise without masking anything. Graduation day had ceased to overtake his mind in the years since it had happened, but the familiar hurt and shame came forward, even if it was no longer debilitating.

Hinata shifted in his seat, as he explained, “I confessed to Kageyama at graduation. It was a shit show.” Hinata felt his face pull at the memory, but continued, “Yamaguchi ended up seeing it happen. If he hadn't been where he was when it happened, that night would have been a lot worse.”

Tsukishima perked up out of curiosity, and Hinata cringed at the few memories he retained of the night. “That night I drank too much in far too short of a time, and I was lucky that Yamaguchi was able to limit the audience of my full breakdown to just him. I don't remember everything from that night, just getting sick and you glaring at me over video games.”

Hinata had turned his face away from Tsukishima in embarrassment, but when he didn’t hear anything coming from the other man, he turned toward him once again. He couldn’t help but feel once again that this was not the Tsukishima that seemingly didn’t care about how his actions affected anyone else, but a pale imposter who looked like he was about to be sick. Hinata watched, rather confused, as Tsukishima swallowed and asked quietly, “So nothing happened between you two that night?”

He could only give a half-hearted smile, as Hinata remembered his friendship with Yamaguchi: the good, the bad, and especially the ugly bits. As the flash of Yamaguchi’s memory caused his senses to flood with images and physical feelings that he had not experienced directly in a decade, Hinata could not help but remember how he and Yamaguchi had both taken solace in each other. He admitted, “Not that night, no. We did have something first year of university, but I was too messed up to appreciate what was there. And even then, it wasn't right away, as he was pretty messed up too.”

Hinata was slightly startled as Tsukishima stood up sharply, and bowed just as deeply, apologizing profusely. Hinata let out a small laugh, as he moved over to stand beside Tsukishima. He placed his hand on Tsukishima’s bowed form, letting a smile creep over his face as their eyes finally met. Tsukishima seemed to be as relieved as Hinata at how things went, and when he returned to his full height, he offered his phone for Hinata to add his number. Hinata didn’t hesitate to do.

~~~~~

Once Kageyama was discharged from the hospital, it became part of Hinata’s regular routine to go and help his friend adjust to life as a former athlete. These visits didn’t happen every day, but they were often enough that Hinata quickly became part of the natural surroundings when other company came to keep Kageyama company. While at times it felt like Hinata and Kageyama had picked up where they had left off in high school, there were stark reminders of their time apart.

Hinata had quickly found out that Yachi had returned to her original name once the divorce was finalized. While the divorce was necessary for her continued sanity, she didn’t begrudge her former husband time with his daughter, and Yachi was there most of the time that Hinata was present. It left Hinata time to catch up with his old friend as they both watched Kageyama intentionally pull funny faces at Saeko, the three year old only slightly disappointed that she couldn’t play the airplane game. Hinata treasured the time that he could spend with Kageyama alone, as they still felt so new and undefined that it felt like it could be viciously taken away as it did when they were teenagers. Still, as Hinata reminded himself daily, he was not booted out of Kageyama’s apartment unwillingly, and Kageyama was still smiling, so he must be doing something right.

The time spent with his old friends also made it very clear that Hinata was excellent with children. It most likely was the fact that they reminded him of what it was like to still contain childlike wonder, and to easily be able to tap into that wellspring of energy. Once Saeko had figured out that Hinata was more than capable of playing the airplane game with her, his old sound effects that caused him to be teased endlessly by his Karasuno teammates made an appearance as well. Hinata managed to catch Kageyama softly smiling at the two of them, Saeko letting out a peal of loud giggles as Hinata hung her upside down, sideways, and every which way. While he would have liked to catch more than a just glimpse of Kageyama’s natural smile, Hinata turned his attention back to the little girl he was playing with so he wouldn’t drop her on the floor and get booted out of the apartment for real, as his heart raced like he was sixteen again.

It was in one of the visits that both Yachi and Tsukishima had stopped by to that Saeko had shown Tsukishima’s twin monsters how Hinata liked to play. What Hinata didn’t expect was for the twins to be adept at climbing him like he was a human-shaped jungle gym, and for two boys that loud to come from someone as quiet as Tsukishima. Still, Hinata had felt like he would be a hypocrite if he didn’t acknowledge that loud, happy sounds didn’t brighten a person’s day, so he encouraged it by roaring loudly in return, pretending that he was Godzilla about to destroy Tokyo.

Hinata’s loudly proclaimed that he was going to destroy the Tokyo Skytree, and he made his way towards Tsukishima. Before he could take more than one lumbering step towards the tall man, the part of Hinata’s mind that was always thinking about work conjured a vision of Ushijima, whose flat affect essentially created a building on the court, and was scheduled to play in the game coming up in only a couple days. This caused Hinata to suddenly stop, fully aware of how ridiculous he looked. The glasses-wearing twin hung upside down on his flexed arm, and his eyes were covered by the other boy, who had made it onto Hinata’s shoulders without help. As Hinata moved the hands from his eyes, he turned to Tsukishima, and asked, “May I borrow your sons the next game I have to go and work?”

Tsukishima eyed Hinata suspiciously, though Hinata supposed there were very few ways that he could be less convincing. The taller man slowly asked, “Where does this come from, and why?”

Hinata found himself having to move the ringleader twin’s hands from his mouth, and used the time to take a deep breath to collect his thoughts. “Ushiwaka’s team is up next. He hasn’t changed much personality-wise since high school, and I’ve seen he doesn’t mind child fans. I think your boys could be excellent assistants, and--”, Hinata found a dark smile twisting on his face “--if they happen to annoy him at the same time, then all the better.”

Hinata watched Tsukishima flex his right hand, which he remembered was the one that Ushijima himself had injured in their first year on their way to Nationals, and nearly took him out of the game completely. After a moment, Hinata saw Tsukishima smile in a way that he usually reserved for those opponents who he really wanted to unsettle.

“You can have them on one condition: I get to watch this in person.”

Hinata couldn’t help but laugh like a villain at the plan forming in his brain, which only spurred the boys climbing over him to heartily return to the game.

~~~~~

The game was not especially exciting, and Hinata had definitely seen a better performance from Ushijima that season, even though he had announced that this was his last in the league. He used the walk across the court to quickly coach the twins on what kinds of questions were good to start an interview. That work went completely out the window, for as soon as the ringleader (Takenori, Hinata reminded himself) saw Ushijima, he loudly yelled at the volleyball player, “WOW, YOU’RE BIGGER THAN JI-SAN!”

Hinata laughed at the blankly amused expression on Ushijima’s face as he rubbed his now-ringing ear. It didn’t stop Takeshi, the other one, from piping up right away, “YOU’RE NOT TALLER THAN TOU-SAN THOUGH! HE’S THE TALLEST PERSON _EVER_!”

Ushijima smiled, and stated, “I am far from the tallest person. I simply try to be the best with what I am given.”

At this, Takenori loudly declared, “WOW! YOU MUST BE SUPER STRONG! I SAW YOU BOUNCE THAT BALL ALMOST UP TO _SPACE_!”

Takeshi excitedly added, “I THINK YOU’D BE A BETTER GODZILLA THAN HINATA-SAN!”

Hinata laughed at that statement, and added, “Of course! Maybe Ushijima-san can demonstrate for you.”

Hinata knew objectively that Tsukishima was an attractive man, but it seemed his children could be adorably persuasive in a way that the taller man never seemed to want to grasp for himself. Their small bodies vibrated with excitement at the possibility of this strong volleyball player playing their favourite game with them, which didn’t end until Ushijima bowed slightly and continued, “I would be happy to demonstrate.”

It only took two lumbering steps before Hinata’s ears were ringing again with the battle cries coming from the twins, and Takenori quickly dangled off of Ushijima’s strong shoulders. The small boy directed, “‘KESHI, I NEED YOU TO SLOW HIM DOWN! WE NEED TO SAVE TOKYO QUICKLY!”

It didn’t take Takeshi long for him to latch onto one of Ushijima’s legs, making the volleyball player’s movements even slower and more lumbering. Hinata found himself laughing at the sight, but it wasn’t until he caught Tsukishima laughing so hard he was barely breathing in his spot across the gym that Hinata could fully enjoy the moment, forever caught on camera.

~~~~~

Ever since his days as a hardworking editing monkey in the old newsroom, Hinata preferred to have control over his own material. He found gradually paring things down until they were perfect as a soothing task, and it was through practice that he found out that he was pretty good under tight deadlines as well. The balm that work provided helped calm his lonely heart, as the last person he had shared physical affection with had left his dorm room in first year without returning. This project, however, was the first major idea he had embarked on since he had reconciled with Kageyama, so he was both excited and nervous to see the other’s reaction to the story.

As soon as the segment aired, Hinata raced over to Kageyama’s with his laptop in hand. He quickly hooked it up to the TV, so that the online video player was full-screen and far more comfortable to watch than if the two of them huddled close around the laptop screen. As Hinata clicked play, he felt Kageyama’s arm wrap around his shoulder, bringing him close enough that they could have huddled in front of the tinier screen without trouble. As Takenori yelled his first battle cry on the video, Hinata nuzzled into Kageyama’s side, who was laughing at the antics on the screen.

After the video finished, Kageyama sheepishly suggested that they watch a show he had discovered in the time he was convalescing. While Hinata didn't particularly care about what was on the TV, he did feel like this moment cuddling on the couch felt more right than he had felt in general in a long time. Hinata switched positions so that he was using Kageyama's lap as a pillow, and pulled out his phone to track the popularity of the twins in real time on social media.

It was hard to concentrate on his usual social media haunts, as Kageyama was absently running his fingers through his hair. Hinata found himself smiling, but whether it was from the easy contact they were sharing, or the numbers in every social media metric he could think of increasing at an alarmingly positive rate, it was hard to determine. The last time the numbers had been this high was when he was interviewing Kageyama in the time before his injury. The only thing that broke him out of his reverie was a familiar voice coming from the TV.

The character was glaring at one of the other people on the screen, but the actor was undeniably Yamaguchi. The shock of seeing his former friend on the screen was enough for Hinata to immediately shoot upright off Kageyama's lap. Had Kageyama not been relaxed and leaning back, he most likely would have been nursing a broken nose with how forcefully Hinata had left his lap. As it was, he looked at Hinata curiously and with concern. Hinata saw that Yamaguchi was displaying mannerisms that were all too familiar to Tsukishima as he was in high school, and if Hinata had not met him again in recent weeks, he would have thought the same as well. He couldn't help but remember his first year of university, and how broken they both were, and how much his own actions fractured their friendship.

When the initial shock wore off, Hinata could see Kageyama looking at him patiently and expectantly. He didn't make eye contact with Kageyama, but instead launched into his explanation. “Yamaguchi and I were both very messed up after high school. We helped each other through the worst of it, but it was messy, and I wasn't the victim.” Familiar guilt gnawed at Hinata’s stomach, so he didn't see Kageyama lean in and kiss his temple, allowing him to relax into the embrace. He also had a distinct sense of deja vu to the night where everything changed with Yamaguchi, but unlike then, Hinata felt a sense of everything being right.

Hinata turned his head to capture Kageyama's lips within his, the enthusiasm building between the two men. Memories of times past left in favor of making new ones in the moment as their hands explored each other's bodies, soft moans escaping Hinata's mouth as he straddled Kageyama’s lap and felt the full length of his interest. While as a younger man, he would have skipped to the “good part", Hinata found the moment was perfect just as it was.

~~~~~

While Hinata was spending most of his extra time with Kageyama, and they were steadily getting more and more physically affectionate, there was still a part of him that felt uneasy. They had not talked about where they stood as a couple since Kageyama had been in the hospital, and while Hinata could guess at how he was feeling, he had also been absolutely sure about someone else's emotions before and been hilariously wrong. As well as things were going between them, Hinata still was the emotional, workaholic coward and he felt that caution had served him well when it came to his feelings.

It was how he find himself in the izakaya with his former volleyball friends, and the group had grown as they started settling down with partners. At the beginning, it was only Kenma and Bokuto who had paired off, but their partners, Kuroo and Akaashi respectively, were loosely a part of the core group. As time went on, Inuoka had started dating Natsu, and even Lev had found a girlfriend he had brought to their gatherings. Hinata was not exactly impressed when he found out about Inuoka and Natsu, as he believed that she could do better, but Hinata was not going to begrudge someone happiness, and Natsu could make her own decisions.

This gathering seemed to be different, as while Hinata came alone like he always did, he didn't feel like he was single. He was making dorky jokes, talking easily and freely, and generally feeling happy in a way he had not been since high school.  It seemed that everyone, even Lev, noticed that the smiles were coming easier to Hinata’s face, causing him to be the center of attention.

“So who's the lucky girl?” Lev loudly asked. Lev ended up grimacing in pain as soon as the words had left his mouth, and judging from the angry look on Natsu’s face, it was her that kicked him in the leg. The resigned look on Lev’s face told Hinata that this was a regular occurrence for his sometimes-uncouth friend.

Hinata laughed how dense Lev was acting, adding, “I like how you assume that there's a girl involved.”

Natsu perked up, narrowed her eyes and smiled evilly. “It wouldn't have anything to do with how much you've been over at Kageyama's place lately, does it?”

He glared at his traitorous sister, as every eye at the table turned to look at his reaction. Even Kenma looked up from his phone with mild interest. Hinata knew that his mildly panicked look was not helping to deflect the attention he was receiving, but instinct was taking control over his limbs. This was especially apparent when Inuoka pointed to a spot on his neck near his shirt’s collar, causing Hinata to cover the spot hastily, remembering how Kageyama worshipped that area with his mouth only the night before, among other things that brought a blush to his face. While most of the table was laughing at Hinata essentially confirming his quasi-relationship with Kageyama, Inuoka coughed as Natsu’s elbow took the wind out of him, with her declaring loudly that it was her job to make her brother paranoid, not anyone else’s.

Hinata used the opportunity to avoid the subject by taking out his phone to check on the stats of the video of the twins and Ushijima, as well as skim the comments that made it through the robot moderator. He faintly heard the term “workaholic” being tossed around, but when Hinata saw how high the numbers were, he could only grin wildly. Most of his friends had already seen the video, but he shared it to the rest who hadn’t seen it. Kuroo admitted that he was the one who called them the Saltshaker Twins, recognizing them as Tsukishima’s, and that was the name that ended up spreading across the internet.

It was looking at the positive reactions of his friends and a stray comment about his interviews with Kageyama that the idea that had been rolling around in Hinata’s head to finally took a coherent shape. Pulling out a notepad and pen he kept in a jacket pocket for when inspiration struck, he furiously wrote down his preliminary ideas. He wasn't oblivious to the curious looks, deflecting them with a simple, “you'll see.”

It was once he got home that the research finally began in earnest. Hinata figured he could use the jokes that he and Kageyama shared as part of their volleyball idiot friendship and turn it into a viable post-career for his partner, one that didn't matter whether or not he was dealing with old injuries. Hinata had to do some research on which formats would work well for what his vision for the show would be, taking inspiration from other sports in other countries.

When Hinata stumbled upon a video of a bombastic old man sharing his very loud opinions about hockey with a quiet, competent journalist sharing the screen on the Canadian national network that Hinata felt like he had won the jackpot. Looking deeper into the situation, it was a formula that worked well enough for the show to cement it into the national consciousness. While the nuances of the two Canadian men’s relationship were vastly different than his own with Kageyama, the basic dynamics were the same, as the quiet one used his journalistic knowledge to fill in the gaps his partner had about presenting information, and was no slouch with hockey knowledge either.

It took some cajoling on Hinata’s part to convince Kageyama to come on board with his idea. This process included showing Kageyama their first interview, and the positive reactions to his grumpy face. To sweeten the deal, Hinata leaned in, whispering promises of acts that made Kageyama's face flush at the mere mention of them. As Kageyama agreed to follow along, Hinata let out cry of joy that had not been heard in a decade, when he was excited about everything and not afraid to show it. That odd noise that used to be Hinata’s main sound effect was silenced as Kageyama swooped in, effectively shutting down Hinata’s brain as things became more heated between them.

It was at this point where Hinata found out the hard way that creating a new show from the ground up was a lot of work, and took a lot of patience. Previously, he had only used the typical courtside interview slots to experiment with content, but it was his first chance at a studio show. Hinata didn't mind the work, as it kept his mind off the ever burning question of where he stood in Kageyama's eyes. Still, he pushed himself to his full endurance, and if that was the only blip in his experience of happiness, Hinata couldn't complain.

It was the fifth night in a row where Hinata passed out over Kageyama's sitting room table as he worked on a proposal that he saw the fruits of his perseverance. As Kageyama hoisted Hinata to his feet to march the smaller man off to bed, Hinata sleepily asked his shoulder, “Kageyama, what are we?”

Kageyama looked confused, and it took him a moment to grasp what Hinata was asking. He had been called dense in the past, but he had since become wiser to the ways of the world. “We're dating?”

As Hinata hummed contentedly into that sensitive spot that connected Kageyama's shoulder to his neck, it took Kageyama a moment longer before everything clicked in his brain. “Wait, you've been killing yourself with work because you weren't sure if we were _dating_? Dumbass.”

By the time that Kageyama had dragged Hinata to the bedroom, he had woken up enough that he could get ready for bed independently. Kageyama used the time to get himself ready as well, and when they finally climbed in, he had wrapped himself protectively around Hinata. As he felt the breathing beneath him even out, Kageyama leaned in to Hinata’s ear, whispering, “If I didn't care about you this much, we wouldn't be together like this.”

When Hinata woke up the next morning, he couldn't be sure whether or not he had dreamt the words he so desperately wanted to hear. He checked his phone, and found himself wide awake with an hour to go before his alarm went off. He was conflicted as his full bladder was urging Hinata to leave the bed, even though he wanted nothing more than to stay in Kageyama’s embrace and pretend that the excellent dream he had the night before was not ending as he returned to reality. Ultimately, Hinata left the bed and started his morning routine.

It was while Hinata was packing his bento that he saw Kageyama stumble tiredly towards him, the limp only detectable by Hinata’s keen eye. He was finishing cleaning up from his quick breakfast only to find himself wrapped up in Kageyama’s arms.

“Stay,” Kageyama suggested softly into Hinata’s ear.

Hinata laughed, shrugging off the arms that threatened to keep him from going into work. “I can’t stay, I have to get going.”

Kageyama pulled Hinata close, and began again, “Stay. Move in with me. You’re here all the time anyway.”

Relief spread through Hinata’s body like a tsunami, and he surged forward, effectively pinning Kageyama against the kitchen wall. Hinata eagerly climbed the height difference between him and Kageyama, and if it wasn’t for his backup alarm going off, he would have lingered more in the kiss.

“Yes,” Hinata answered, “But I still have to go to work.”

Hinata could only count down the moments before he could return to their shared home.

~~~~~

Hinata had just finished unpacking the last box when he found himself at the receiving end of a text from Tsukishima. He had discovered that Kageyama was often Tsukishima’s back-up childcare, but Hinata had to laugh when Tsukishima told him why he needed childcare. Tsukishima used “ugh” to describe his annoying co-worker, and that he blind date was with someone named Yamaguchi.

It was a fleeting thought, one that Hinata didn't text back to Tsukishima, about the irony of this mysterious Yamaguchi being their mutual ex. Either way, this was the first time since they reconnected that he had even heard of Tsukishima even considering going on a date, so if taking care of a couple energetic boys meant that his friend could have a shot at meaningful happiness, Hinata would gladly take the monsters off his hands.

When Takeshi and Takenori arrived at Hinata and Kageyama's place, he discovered them very hyper and most definitively not hungry. The sly smile on Tsukishima’s face hinted that this development was by design, and not by accident. Remembering how enthusiastic the small boys were about meeting Ushijima, Hinata found a soft ball, leading them to the nearest park.

Hinata went through the simple games that he used to play with Natsu when she was only slightly older than the twins, but once he had gotten over how much had changed in the fifteen years since he had started seriously playing volleyball, he fully enjoyed the moment. While Takenori was usually the loud one, in these simplified volleyball drills, Takeshi was the one calling for more. It took a couple hours and several wide yawns for Hinata to draw the twins back to his place.

It was not long after the boys ate, bathed, and promptly fell asleep that Kageyama came back from the station. Even though all he had to do was orientation and paperwork, Kageyama still looked frazzled beyond belief, making Hinata wonder if he'd ever held a job that was not as a volleyball player. He pointed Kageyama to the leftovers, and Hinata had purposefully prepared lots extra in anticipation of his return.

As Kageyama made his way to their bedroom, Hinata peeked into the spare room to double check that the quiet he had heard was peaceful instead of pandemonium, only to find the twins in absurd sleeping positions. Takeshi was curled into a ball, rear end sticking up in the air and face planted on the mattress, and Takenori lay fully spread-eagles with his legs draped over Takeshi’s back. Even though Hinata tried to take a picture, the room was too dark to fully reveal the comedy of the situation.

As Hinata pulled the bedroom door so that it was only slightly ajar, he felt his phone buzz in his pocket.

_Saltyshima: It’s getting pretty late. Is it all right if I pick the boys up tomorrow rather than tonight?_

Hinata smiled at his friend’s timing, inwardly cursing the lack of photographic evidence that weird was genetic.

_Me: thats ok. theyre asleep in the spare room. they sleep funny._

As soon as Hinata hit send, his mind flew quickly into a conclusion, and he found himself typing out another reply very quickly.

_Me: omg, youre getting some tonight, arent you :D_

_Saltyshima: No. It turned out to be Tadashi. I did get his number, but we're no where close to that._

Hinata found himself lucky that he had wandered over to the sitting room in order to finish his text conversation, as he started laughing rather loudly. His fingers flew across the screen as he typed out another reply.

_Me: yet._

Tsukishima had stopped responding, and Hinata could only guess at the glare that his last reply was getting. As he got ready for bed, he couldn’t help but think of how well things were going for everybody.

~~~~~

Kageyama closed his eyes as the makeup person touched up his face in and Hinata’s filming room in the league gym in Osaka. Their new show, Setter’s Circle, was staged to be a live sports-analysis show that took place in between sets, where Kageyama would use his knowledge and sense of the game to critique plays of the game, and Hinata would be the translator and explain the situation from a less technical standpoint, as well as point out flaws in his logic. It was a song and dance that they both knew well, as they shared a _boke_ and _tsukkomi_ routine for the better part of fifteen years, even if some called it the _boke_ and _boke_ routine. They caught each other’s eyes as the countdown began, and before they knew it, the cameras were live.

Hinata put on his best, natural press smile, introducing their segment for the first time to the world. It didn’t take long for him to indicate to Kageyama to start talking about his favourite moments. It was true, Kageyama wasn’t the smoothest on camera, but he was unparalleled in understanding the game, and he had Hinata to keep him on track. He seemed pretty fond of describing the artistry that went into each setter’s decision, and Hinata couldn’t help but talk about how well (or not well) the spikers were cooperating with the setter.

When Hinata had gone so far as to say that spikers were better than setters, that earned him a loud “ _Boke_! The game wouldn’t run without setters!”. The crew startled for a moment at the loud exclamation, but quickly calmed as Hinata didn’t flinch at all. Instead, Hinata said his passive aggressive retort directly towards the camera, with an impish grin on his face. He smiled as a challenge to Kageyama, who simply went onto his next point.

After their segment finished, and the adrenaline left their bodies, Hinata and Kageyama flopped onto their hotel bed, limbs intertwined and smiles on their faces. It was a different sort of rush, one that couldn’t replace what they shared on the volleyball court, but it still used their volleyball knowledge and it was something they shared. Hinata reached up and stroked Kageyama’s face before sidling upwards on the bed to reach his lips. Kageyama used his size and leverage to flip the smaller man onto his back, a predatory smile on his face. Hinata couldn't help but be thankful they were sharing this too.

**Author's Note:**

> I have a [Pillowfort](https://www.pillowfort.io/littlemisstpk) where I post my comments about the manga I'm reading, as well as some writing thoughts. I'm always up for talking!


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